The 'Recycled' School

Innovative ways of educating children in India. Good to see such things happen.

Read On..



A school in Pune is a model example of how to follow a greener lifestyle. It's not just teaching its students chapters on recycling, but setting an example.

With walls made of plastic bottles, cow dung plastering interiors, roofs of bamboos and straws and pipes for ventilators, the Aman Setu Primary School on the outskirts of Pune in Wagholi is a school literally made out of waste materials of all kinds.

Its aim is to create an eco-foundation for its children: A fundamental lesson in recycling and conservation.

All classrooms have been built using the Earth Bag Technique - sacks filled with a mix of the earth and waste products have been sealed and stacked up like conventional bricks, tied with barbed wire and plastered over with a mix of natural waste.

The roofs have been waterproofed with old hoardings.

"By creating a learning space like this, we are bringing children closer to nature. Not only is the structure kinder to the earth, aesthetically satisfying, cool and comfortable, it is also a dynamic learning space. It's a hands-on experience for the children to know Mother Nature," said Madhavi Kapoor, founder, Aman Setu.

Staying true to its belief, the students of Aman Setu Primary School are made to play in natural spaces instead of designed playgrounds so that they learn about the flora and fauna and how to live eco-friendly.

They are also taught how to turn organic waste into fertiliser and grow vegetables.

If schools are all about laying the right foundation, this place seems to have got it right. Just as we say, - you learn what you live - here the young minds are learning how to live with nature.

Source: www.ndtv.com, July 04, 2011

India has more mobile phones than toilets

I have seen people in villages of India using cellphones for each and every small work like calling someone to the farm by giving a missed call, or by checking the price of the food grains in the cities by just calling over mobile. On the other hand, the government should take initiative of building and maintaining more toilets in the cities as well as villages. The toilets are seldom seen and if they are seen, they are very dirty and unhealthy. The government should address this issue asap.

Read On..

As the country’s wealth continues to grow, almost half the population have a hand-held device but less than a third have access to proper sanitation.
The lack of flushing toilets has led to continuing problems of water-borne illness and millions of deaths, according to UN experts who published a nine-point prescription for achieving the world’s Millennium Development Goal for sanitation by 2015.
Their report on India, the world’s second most populous country, shows 600 million people – 54 per cent of the population – defecated in the open in 2008, causing a health disaster.
At the same time, 545 million mobile phones are now connected to networks in the developing nation.
The Indian government has vowed to end open defecation by 2012.
Zafar Adeel, director of UN think-tank the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, called for ‘popular education about the dangers of poor sanitation’.
‘This simple measure could do more to save lives, improve health and help pull India and other countries in similar circumstances out of poverty than any alternative investment,’ he added.

Source: www.metro.co.uk, 14th April 2010

TED India Talks: Shashi Tharoor - Why India is becoming the "soft" power

India is fast becoming a superpower, says Shashi Tharoor -- not just through trade and politics, but through "soft" power, its ability to share its culture with the world through food, music, technology, Bollywood. He argues that in the long run it's not the size of the army that matters as much as a country's ability to influence the world's hearts and minds.

About Shashi Tharoor

Author and activist Shashi Tharoor is a member of Parliament and the Indian minister of state for external affairs.

In May 2009, Shashi Tharoor was elected to Parliament, representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. As a minister for external affairs, he's charged with helping India engage with the world -- taking meetings around the globe, and ensuring that Indian citizens know how their country is connecting with the rapidly internationalizing world. (His mission also includes improving the operation of local passport offices.)

Before entering politics, Tharoor spent almost three decades with the UN as a refugee worker and peace-keeper, working as a senior adviser to the Secretary-General. Meanwhile, he maintained a parallel career as a writer, producing three novels, a biography of Nehru and several collections of essays on literature and global affairs (plus hundreds of articles for magazines and journals). He was the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information under Kofi Annan, and was India's candidate in 2006 for the post of Secretary-General. He left the UN in 2007.

"Mr. Tharoor has brought a breath of fresh air into the Indian political scene."
goodnewz.in

Here is the Video:

Haagen Dazs - Sorry, Indians not allowed

It looks like the Danish Ice cream Haagen Dazs has tried to bring in the Era of the British Raj where Indians are not allowed into a ice-cream parlor inside India.
This is a direct reminder of the Raj period when Indians and dogs weren't allowed into clubs and other 'white' places.

The City Walk Mall in Delhi recently opened up to Haagen Dazs ice cream parlor & they had a poster where they claim that only international passport holders are allowed for the preview. In India, Indian's are not allowed !!!!!!!! This is sick and disgusting.

Read On..

My friend Ramit (name changed on request) called me late Friday night. He sounded quite agitated. “You know, Haagen Dazs has opened its Delhi outlet”. I reacted with a joke. “Good, now you can spend a lot more on an ice cream than you normally would. But why are you agitated?”

“Because I am not allowed to enter”, he said. Now, Ramit is not like one of the politician’s son or into drugs, the sort who are often in news in India’s capital for all the wrong reasons, nor is he the kind who will shoot someone down because she refused to serve him a cone of ice cream.

He did not waste much time and said he has taken a picture and is mailing me the reason. I switched on my mail, and clicked on the attachment. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Was I in India, 62 years after gaining independence, and years after South Africa officially ended apartheid?

The banners outside the outlet said: Exclusive Preview for International Travellers. And under that, in an even finer print, the real bombshell: Access restricted only to holders of international passports.

I immediately called Ramit. “You are an international traveler, and you have a passport, so you can go in”, I said. Ramit’s response was instant: I tried to enter but they said you are not allowed for you don’t have an international passport.

I am normally not given to immediate emotional reactions, but I couldn’t resist this time. I was, to be honest, upset. How can they do this to an Indian, in India? Do a story on TOI or NBT? Do it for print or Online? Call other media friends and colleagues? I simply didn’t know how to react. Print would have a better impact, but should I wait that long?

Then I felt, why not use the power of the social media? Next thing I knew was that I had put up a few pictures on facebook, added a caption and also sent out a tweet with a request it be retweeted. In a few hours, it had turned into a viral and I started getting messages from angry Indians all over. Why just Indians, even friends in international media wrote to say “this is the stupidest thing they have seen in a long time”.

I didn’t stop at that. I ended up calling a few MPs I knew I could speak to bluntly and told them about it, taunting them about it.

I don’t know what finally worked, but it seems word did get around to the outlet’s franchisee and they started claiming there never was any restriction on anybody entering the outlet.

While this may be considered a victory for people power, I am still unable to figure out who in his right senses would have advised the dessert company to do something so stupid. Was it a way to generate controversy for free publicity? Did they think it will work subliminally on Indians mind that now that it has been ‘certified’ by international travelers it would be good for them too?

Whatever it is, it is idiotic. I checked later and found that the franchisee is an Indian company based in Delhi and the man incharge is also an Indian.

I have often maintained that we ourselves are our biggest enemies. Our mentality is that of slaves and we think anything is good only if its approved by foreigners, or the “holders of international passport”.

Perhaps the Indian franchisee had this in mind. And a comment on the picture I put up on the facebook by an Indian who migrated to Australia decades ago sums it up: Most international travellers don't want HD in India when they can get it in their own backyard. Its a commodity not a special thing for them. They would also see this as pure cashing in and thinking they are idiots - 'India taking them for a ride.' Have to remember not every international traveler is American; makes an average salary of squillion dollars; can often be allergic to dairy (yes); is in India to have an 'authentic Indian' experience and by golly even enjoy kulfi, falooda, lassi, dosa! This is all about how India and Indians see themselves. Foreigners have nothing to do with it.

Source: blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 15th December 2009

TED India Conference: Pranav Mistry - The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology: Video

Here is another Indian - Pranav Mistry, who is making mark worldwide with his great technological skills. He is the inventor of Sixth Sense Technology which is just amazing. Just have a look at this video. I bet you will be astonished. Such great people from India are taking India ahead in the global technological front. Hat's Off!

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

About Pranav Mistry:
Pranav Mistry is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.
He is a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab. Before his studies at MIT, he worked with Microsoft as a UX researcher; he's a graduate of IIT. Mistry is passionate about integrating the digital informational experience with our real-world interactions.

Here is the Video :

TED India Conference: Hans Rosling on Asia's Rise - How and When : Video

Look at this video of TED India Conference where Hans Rosling explains and predicts the economic growth of India and China. India Shining. :)

Hans Rosling was a young guest student in India when he first realized that Asia had all the capacities to reclaim its place as the world's dominant economic force. At TEDIndia, he graphs global economic growth since 1858 and predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US and become the worlds economic power.

About Hans Rosling:
As a doctor and researcher, Hans Rosling identified a new paralytic disease induced by hunger in rural Africa. Now he looks at the bigger picture of social and economic development with his remarkable trend-revealing software.
Even the most worldly and well-traveled among us will have their perspectives shifted by Hans Rosling. A professor of global health at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, his current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which (he points out) is no longer worlds away from the west. In fact, most of the third world is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did.

Here is the Video: